Vodafone issues real Froyo update for HTC Desire

Surrenders to customer anger

Vodafone has bowed to customer fury and agreed to strip marketing guff and compulsory applications from its HTC Desire phones when it next upgrades the handsets' Android operating system.

In the next ten days Vodafone UK will make an update available to Desire users which will upgrade their handsets to the next version of the Android OS, called Froyo.

Users of the HTC Desire handset eagerly downloaded the last update expecting to get Froyo, but instead found their handsets sporting a bundle of 360 branding, bookmarks and applications that couldn't be uninstalled.

While more technically astute users managed to install vanilla versions of Froyo, which lacked the Vodafone extras, the rest set up Facebook protests and Twittered their frustrations until the operator sounded the retreat.

"We’ve listened to feedback from customers on a number of points around the recent 360 Android 2.1 update and made some changes to the roll out plan," the operator said in a forum post.

"For customers who have downloaded the recent 360 update for Android 2.1, we can confirm that the Android 2.2 update will remove the 360 applications and will leave the homepage and bookmarks on your current settings."

Vodafone's response is in stark contrast to how it's treating those wanting to stream video over its network. Last week we compared their patient waiting with the Web 2.0 approach adopted by the Desire users, and now we see that if you want Vodafone to take action then Facebook and Twitter are the way to go. ®